Poison and the Sword
by MysticVeil
Summary: Katniss: I allowed him to get closer to me than anyone ever has. Cato: Because of her I cared. Because of her I had a heart. But sometimes that isn't enough...


**Katniss:**

I had never let people into my life, expect for Gale. No one besides him, Prim and my father had ever been allowed to get close to me. No one had ever been able to get into my heart; I had never given in to the stupid teenage girl crushes. I would hear them talk about how this boy looked at them, or that certain boy talked to them… Hell, it never stopped. I had never understood the feeling of truly liking someone… until I was standing with Peeta and Haymitch and our stylists… and a tall blonde boy with icy eyes stared at me… making me feel something I have never felt before. But I can always hide my emotions. But I let that boy get close to me, which was a mistake.

**Cato:**

I sat on my bed watching some stupid Capitol movie. I was still annoyed because that idiot had taken my knife. He will be dead in the arena. I will personally make sure of that. Most of the tributes were pathetic this year, except for the boy from Eleven… and the girl from twelve.

I stood up and walked over to my window. People were partying loudly, chanting one undistinguishable thing after the other. I put on my arm on the window and leaned my head on it, closing my eyes. I was angry… I was telling myself it was because of the boy taking my knife…. But it wasn't. It was because I had a fight with Fire Girl. We had met a few days ago on the roof on night, and ended up talking for over an hour, and then we said we would meet again, which ended up being the night after. And I went to meet her again tonight of course. She seemed aggravated and I tried talking to her… but it went downhill.

"_What's wrong?" I asked her, stepping closer. _

"_Nothing." she replied bitterly. _

"_Come on kitten, you can tell me." I said as I flicked a piece of hair from her eyes. _

"_I don't know… I just… I just hate them. All of them!" she told me, scowling at the Capitol. _

"_Why?"_

"_They ruin people's lives every day. And then when the Games come around, it is only a TV show for them. What right do they have to do this to us?" she said. But this statement she just made was stupid. There is no point complaining about the Capitol. This is the way things are. _

"_Shut up Katniss. Complaining about it isn't any good. You can't change it. This is the way things are, deal with it." I growled in response. I am not going to listen to her bitch about the Capitol, because it could get her in trouble. _

"_You sound like them." she muttered. She was scowling. I didn't like it, she looked better when she was smiling. But I was angry that she compared me to them. _

"_What did you say?" I asked her. I knew I was getting angry, but I wouldn't lash out at her. _

"_I said you sound like them. No, actually you are one of them. What do you know about pain? Your whole life you have had food and a good place to live. You know nothing about what others have to deal with on a daily basis. You're nothing but a heartless bastard-_

_But she was cut off by me slapping her. I didn't restrain. I knew it hurt. I stood there with my hand in the air while she stumbled and clutched her face. I was so furious. I was about to hit her again… and then I realized what I had just done. My hand dropped to my side and I looked at her. I had never meant to hurt her… but it is the only way I know how to deal with people… with violence. And she had made me angry, and I still was angry. _

"_You just proved me right. You are one of them." she whispered. She turned and ran to the elevator and the door closed and she disappeared. My hands trembled, and before I knew it I had collapsed on the ground. I put my face in my hands. What did I just do? _

Katniss was right. I was heartless. But that doesn't matter. You don't need a heart to win the Hunger Games.

**Katniss:**

I was sitting on the floor of my room, holding a cold cloth to my sore cheek. My stupid hair had come loose of its braid and little pieces were now plastered on my cheeks because I had been crying. Luckily everyone was asleep when I had returned, and they did not hear me cry. I have not cried in years. I have been sitting here on the floor for a long time, only getting up to run cold water on the cloth when it became warm. I had stopped crying, thankfully. I don't think I was crying about the pain though, I was crying because Cato had hit me in the first place. But what should I have expected? He would have tried to hurt me anyway. I never should have allowed myself to go and see him. But no matter what I tell myself… I wanted to go. I wanted to see him. I still don't know why I said all those things… I was just angry and I needed to lash out at someone. But the stupidest idea was to lash out at Cato… I should have known this was the result. Honestly, I had never thought he was as heartless as he appeared. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was. I should have just gone and yelled at Peeta, the worst thing he would have done was hit me with a loaf of bread.

**Cato:**

I see Katniss again until the beginning of the Games. I am sitting in my chair on the Hovercraft. The other tributes were trembling, but I was calm and ready to kill. I turned to Katniss. I saw the red mark on her cheek, but it wasn't too noticeable if you weren't looking for it. She looked at me quickly and then turned away. I had lost her trust forever.

**Katniss:**

He looked at me once, and then that was the last I saw of him for a while. The next time I saw him, he was chasing me, yelling that he would get me. Had the Games changed him so much?

I ran to a tree and climbed up, trying to ignore the pain in my leg. I hated Cato with a burning passion at that moment. I wanted to see him die… The Games had changed me too.

I had fallen asleep after the blessing of the medicine that Haymitch sent. But I was woken by the little girl, Rue. She was a sweet little girl. But she was pointing to the nest of Trackerjackers behind me. I knew what she meant. I sawed the branch, and the nest fell on the careers that were sleeping beneath me.

**Cato:**

That bitch. That freaking bitch. She made those Jackers fall on us. She killed Glimmer and Zora, but I didn't care about them, I was so angry she did that to us. Well, I had left a big gash in lover's boy leg. She will be mad about that… that is of course if she actually loves him.

It was night and I was on watch. The stars glittered in the artificial sky, and they casted a soft glow on everything. I turned to Clove who looked far more peaceful in the soft light. She was a close friend. I hated that she was chosen the year I volunteered.

I leaned against the tree, still staring at the sky. I was listening for any sort of noise, but I hadn't heard anything yet. My mind drifted back to Katniss, I wondered where she was. I wondered how close I was to her… how close I was to killing her.

**Katniss:**

Rue had taken care of me. She was so much like Prim it was almost painful to hug her. But because she was so much like Prim, I couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to her. We had decided to blow up the careers supplies, so I instructed her to light fires to draw away the careers. Before I left, she hugged me around the waste.

"Hey, I'll see you for supper." I told her and then smiled and ran off. I had faith that I would see her. I didn't allow myself to think of anything bad happening to her.

**Cato:**

She blew up our supplies. God I wanted the girl dead. I had to shove Clove away from me to keep myself from hitting her. I was furious. Snapping the boys neck helped calm me down a bit though. I ran through the trees, slashing at random tree trunks with my sword. I calmed down after a bit… but then I heard someone singing.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow  
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow  
Lay down your head, and close your eyes  
And when they open, the sun will rise…"

I looked around the tree and I saw Katniss holding the little girl, Rue. Rue was motionless in her arms and she had a huge bloody wound in her stomach. She was dead. Katniss was weeping hysterically and she grabbed the spear that had killed Rue, and threw it away. It almost hit an already dead Marvel.

Katniss covered Rue in flowers and then she stood and held up three fingers. Has she gone crazy? No, I doubt that. She lowered her arm and ran through the trees and I followed her. I ran quietly, trying to make sure she didn't hear me. But soon, she stopped and collapsed on the ground. She was crying again, and I have never seen her look so… broken. Any hate or anger I held towards her disappeared. I stepped toward her and sat down beside her. I put my arm around her shoulder and she stared at me, and then she curled up and I pulled her close. She cried until there were literally no tears left in her. After, she looked up at me, and without thinking I leaned down and kissed her. What was I thinking? I don't know. Maybe I did have a heart after all.

**Katniss:**

I was standing with Peeta, my heart beating so fast it hurt. We were watching the trees, waiting for something to come out. I had no doubt it was some sort of mutation, the Capitol put one in every year. Peeta was holding on to my arm tightly… it actually was starting to hurt. I don't love Peeta, I would even start to go so far as to say I don't like him, but if the whole star cross lovers thing was keeping us alive.

I scanned the trees, and suddenly Cato came running out of them. I was too shocked to move, because I saw a group of Mutts running after him. Cato was running towards us, and Peeta threw himself in front of me, but Cato grabbed him and threw him to the mutts. Then he grabbed my hand and made me run with him to the Cornucopia. Once there, he grabbed me by the waist and threw my on top of the Cornucopia and I turned and reached down for him and hauled him up. He got up just in time to be saved from a dog biting his leg. We scrambled to our feet and we stood together gasping. He turned to me and put his arm on my shoulder. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Attention tributes. The previous rule change that two tributes can win still applies. But it only applies to tributes from the _same _district. Sorry for any inconvenience. Good luck, and may the odds me ever in your favor." Claudious's loud voice boomed.

I turned to Cato, who looked just as unsure as I was.

**Cato:**

Katniss looked scared, and I was scared too. There was no way in hell I was killing her. I was heartless once… but not now. Because of her I cared.

"Well… this sucks." I muttered.

"Cato, I won't-

"If you are trying to convince me that you will die and I won't, don't even try it!" I growled.

"Ugh… No, not exactly," she said softly. She reached into her pocket and pulled a dark berry, Nightlock. Extremely poisonous… it would kill you in a matter of seconds. No way in hell she is eating those.

"No, what the hell-

"Cato, trust me." she said softly. Oh shit… she really was going to eat them. Well, I have only one last trick up my sleeve.

"Katniss! Watch out!" I yelled and pointed behind her. She shot around to see what I was pointing at, and I grabbed all the berries from her hand and shoved them in my mouth and swallowed. She turned back to me, horrified.

"Cato, no!" she cried. But it was too late. I reached out for her, and then everything went black.

**Katniss:**

I grabbed Cato's hand but he had already dropped to the ground, dead. I stood there trembling for a few moments, unable to move. Why did he have to do that! Tears streamed down my face and I dropped to my knees beside his body. His eyes were still open, so I reached forward and closed them. My fingers lingered on his face, and I collapsed on his chest. _Dammit Cato!_

I saw the Hovercraft approaching… and then my eyes drifted to the sword on Cato's belt. Suddenly I thought of an ancient play they told us about in school. It was about two lovers who wanted to be together… but ended up killing themselves because they couldn't. It was called Romeo and Juliet. Romeo died because of poison… Juliet died because she plunged a sword into her heart.

I reached for the sword and raised it to my chest. The Capitol should be happy about this… they love dramatic things. I looked up at the fake sky. I knew I would be hated for this. But I could never be the same if I came out of this arena alive. I would be broken. My thoughts drifted back to Prim… I had failed her. But she has Gale to protect her now.

"I'm sorry Prim." I said. Then I looked at Cato. We will be together now. God, I sound like a lovesick teenage girl. But oh well, you're allowed to sound like that when you are about to kill yourself with a sword. I took a deep breath and then stuck the sword in my heart.

**Hello :) so we are studying Shakespeare in school... and this is the result :s I love reviews ;)**


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